Edie Campbell Pens Open Letter on Model Abuse

LONDON — “We have a problem: We operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations. This can be the ritual humiliation of models, belittling of assistants, power plays and screaming fits. We have come to see this as simply a part of the job.”
So says Edie Campbell, one of Britain’s best-known models and a vocal member of Cameron Russell’s online campaign to raise awareness around the harassment of models at the hands of photographers and members of the fashion industry.
In an open letter to the fashion industry penned for WWD, the 27-year-old admonishes mainstream media for their silence of the sexual abuse suffered by male models, which she describes as “more complex.”
To her point, a 2016 post on Facebook by male model Cory Bond represents a rare admission: “Inside the modeling business, I have been the victim of inappropriate touching, sexual assault and was drugged once in the course of my 19-year career. I haven’t spoken much about it out of fear of not working and doing the job that I love. You just want it to go away. But trust me, some men in power think that they can do whatever they want